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  She thought as she tore down the hall and stairs, running across the main floor. The theater room—she’d go there. The door locked, there weren’t windows, and it was in the heart of the basement. Nicole ran down the back steps, crossed a hall, and burst into the theater room. She’d expected it to be empty, but her parents were there, watching An Affair to Remember.

  They looked up before turning back to their movie, munching popcorn. Nicole quietly closed the door behind her, locked it, then sat at the back of the room. Why were her parents still up? Rather than question, she decided to be grateful they were awake. There was no way they would let a dog/man in the house if they could help it.

  Nicole stared at the movie, completely unable to pay attention. She couldn’t believe her parents were being so cavalier—as if someone hadn’t just been murdered. She would be scarred for life from watching millions of shards of glass pound into a helpless woman.

  She grabbed a blanket and covered her legs, curling up on the couch. Her arms were shaking, her eyes unable to focus, her head pounding. But for the first time in hours, she felt safe and was comfortable enough to fall asleep.

  Nicole woke just as her parents were leaving. They didn’t seem to think it weird that she’d locked the door—or if they had, they didn’t comment. She waited for a moment, then got up and locked the door behind them. She pushed the couch she’d been on up against the doors, making sure nobody would be able to enter the room without her hearing it.

  Once she was as safe as possible, and realizing she wouldn’t know what to do if the man did enter the room, she stretched out on another couch, pulling her favorite fuzzy blanket to herself. The exhaustion of the last few hours was too much, and after only a few minutes, her eyes started drooping.

  She wasn’t sure how long she’d been asleep when a shuffling sound woke her.

  Chapter Nine

  Nicole jerked, her eyes immediately flying to the door, but it was still closed with the couch in front of it. She froze, staring at it, wondering where the noise came from.

  “Hey,” a man said from near the projector screen.

  Nicole whirled, almost falling off the couch in her surprise. “How did you get in here?” she shrieked. It was the same man from her balcony. The man who turned into a dog. A dog that could run at highway speeds.

  She jumped off the couch, scrambled around it, and ran to the bar that lined the back of the room. She grabbed glasses and bottles, throwing them at him. He dodged them easily, holding his hands up in a gesture of peace.

  “I’m not here to hurt you,” he said.

  Like she believed that! Nicole threw the last glass, disappointed that most of them hadn’t shattered and pelted him like the woman had been pelted earlier.

  Once she’d run out of breakable things, she began chucking pillows and blankets. The man looked like he was trying not to laugh, and that only made her more angry.

  “If I wanted to hurt you, I would’ve done it already,” he said. “Nicole, didn’t she tell you I would be coming? I’m here to help. Do you still have the data?”

  What was he talking about? “Data? What data?”

  The man shrugged. “It should’ve been a little shiny piece of metal. It’s actually a data chip. It contains information about Lizzie and other things we don’t want people to get their hands on.”

  “We? We who?”

  “The guardians of knowledge.”

  “And what if I do still have it?” Nicole asked. “Would you kill me to take it?”

  The man looked confused for a moment. “No . . . Why would I kill you? You’re the guardian of magical items. It’s your job to protect it. And it’s my job to protect you, as a guardian of knowledge.”

  Nicole fisted her hands at her side. “Why does everyone keep telling me I’m a guardian of magical items?”

  “Because you are. Or you will be, in a few short years.”

  The man watched Nicole with cautious eyes, slowly lowering himself to one of the beanbags in the room. When she didn’t jump at him, he settled himself in and motioned for her to take a seat on one of the couches.

  Recognizing he wasn’t going to hurt her—at least not now—Nicole sat on the couch that she’d fallen asleep on.

  The man began speaking. “My job is to protect you until you are able to seal the data chip.”

  “Why have I never heard any of this before?” Nicole asked.

  “Because you haven’t yet done what you will do to gain guardianship status. I can’t tell you more. Knowledge is power, yes, but it’s also dangerous. And the more you know about your future, the more danger you will be in.”

  “The woman mentioned my friend,” Nicole said. She watched him closely, trying to see if she could sense any dishonesty or anger there—any negative emotion.

  He just nodded. “I know. She was supposed to bring up Lizzie. We realized it was the only way to get your attention.”

  “Did you have the woman murdered to get my attention too?”

  The man’s face filled with sadness. “We didn’t do that.”

  Nicole could feel his sincerity. “Who was she?”

  “A good friend.” He stared at the carpet for several moments, then raised his eyes to hers. “Have you heard of the Hounds of Tindalos?”

  Nicole hesitated for a moment, pondering the name and comparing it to the odd things she’d discovered in her position as a research assistant. But nothing came to mind. “No, never. What are they?”

  “You’re looking at one right now, though a . . . tame one. Hounds travel through angles. In fact, I’m surprised you haven’t asked how I got in the room.”

  Nicole frowned, looking at the couch and the door it still covered. “What do you mean, you travel through angles? That doesn’t make any sense.”

  He pointed at the corner of the room. “We travel through corners, basically. Where perpendicular walls meet. ‘Experts’ say we need one hundred and twenty degrees. It’s actually closer to ninety degrees.”

  “How is that even possible?” Nicole asked. She leaned over and put her face in her hands. “I don’t get it. I’m too tired.”

  “The dimension we come from is not like yours. It’s not a truly physical one. It’s more lines and angles than anything. In order for me to come here, I first had to find a ninety-degree angle.” He pointed at the corner opposite Nicole. “That’s where I entered the room.”

  Nicole shook her head, rubbing the back of her neck. “You’re crazy. I’m crazy . . .”

  “It’ll all make sense once you get a good night’s rest.”

  “Are you serious? People turning into dogs and traveling through corners is supposed to make sense?”

  The man smiled. “Eventually, yes. Anyway, in our natural state—when we’re literal Hounds of Tindalos—we devour everything and anything that catches our attention. We are especially attracted to time travel.”

  “Well, I can tell you for sure right now—I’ve never time traveled. And neither has Lizzie.”

  “Someday you will.”

  He looked like he was ready to move the conversation along. He got up and started pacing. “Thousands and thousands of years ago, a man was traveling through time so frequently that we could no longer ignore him. As I said, it is in our nature to devour what we come across. Instead of killing him, though, we allowed him to bargain.

  “At first, he only offered us physical bodies, but that wasn’t enough—our bodies were nearly completely physical anyway. So he offered something to which he had a special key.

  “He offered us knowledge—all knowledge. And we accepted.”

  Chapter Ten

  The man stopped pacing and stared at Nicole. “But he gave us a warning. ‘Those with knowledge will either become corrupted by it and turn truly evil, or they will be blessed by it and become truly good. Your hearts and choices will determine the outcome.’” He resumed his pacing.

  “We did not fear evil, for we already knew it, and we didn’t fear good, for it was s
omething we had not contemplated. So we made the choice and became Cerberi—guardians of knowledge.”

  Nicole knitted her forehead. “I thought Cerberuses guarded doors. Are they really called Cerberi when there’s more than one? I hate it when words do that.”

  “Cerberi. Knowledge is the door to everything, Nicole.”

  The man returned to the beanbag, shifting around until he was comfortable. “We let him go. He promised never to time travel again, and we promise not to eat him if we ever came across him.

  “He kept his end of the bargain, and we were granted physical bodies and access to knowledge. Because we were already nearly dogs, he finalized us that way, but also gave us the ability to shift into men, as our intelligence was so much greater than a dog’s.”

  He turned and looked at Nicole, an expression of awe on his face. “The change was miraculous. I’ve never felt anything like it before or since. One moment, I was seeing things only in 1D and 2D—just lines and flat shapes extending everywhere endlessly. In the next instant, those shapes popped out, gained color and texture, and became physical things that I could touch.”

  How would that be? Nicole couldn’t fathom a world not in 3D. “I’ve never seen the kind of dog you are before.”

  “I’m not surprised. There aren’t many of us. We are Xolos—a type of dog from South America. Hundreds of myths and legends surround us. There aren’t many Xolos that are actually dogs left. Most you’d come across would be a Cerberus.”

  Nicole nodded, then paused. “So, I feel weird for not asking this earlier, but what is your name?”

  “Alexander.” He studied her for a moment. “I realize you probably have a lot of questions about what this has to do with you, and I’m almost there.” He stretched his hands behind his head, clasping his fingers and staring up at the ceiling. “It quickly became apparent that not all of us would choose righteousness—many would choose evil. Those who choose evil have gradually begun to lose their knowledge. Those who choose righteousness continue to increase in it, because as man learns, so do they.” Alexander looked at Nicole. “That is because when anyone anywhere learns something new to us, we are aware of it and we are drawn to them. We devour the knowledge instead of the learner, and that knowledge is then stored in our base.”

  He continued. “The prophecy states that an Arete who controls Fire will seek out and kill the hounds who are evil and protect those of us who are righteous. This greatly worries evil hounds, as up to this point, only another hound can kill us.”

  “What does Fire have to do with it?” Nicole asked.

  “We must use it to travel between dimensions and times. And if I’m not mistaken, your friend is a Fire Arete, correct?”

  “Sure, but she’d have to be able to manipulate it, right?”

  “Yes.”

  “Good. Lizzie has no desire to delve into magic. She wants to become a nurse.”

  “Don’t count on that protecting her, especially when the prophecy is specifically about her. The hounds have forgotten the actual prophecy, but they are cunning and swift, and if they get their hands on it, they will know immediately it is her and will execute her. You are in danger until it is hidden. You are the only one who can hide it. And your best friend is in danger until she comes to her own powers. Hiding the prophecy about Lizzie only protects her for so long. Anything we do to keep the hounds away from her will be temporary.

  “Once she Restarted, we became aware of her existence—it’s like a little tick in the back of our heads, even the good Cerberi. We are drawn to find her and protect her or find her and kill her.”

  Nicole felt a chill cross her scalp and tickle down her back. She knew that what Alexander said was true. Or at least he believed it was, and that was enough for her after what she’d seen in the previous twenty-four hours. “What do I need to do?”

  “You must hide the chip magically and seal its location so others can’t tell it’s a magical item. When your friend is ready, you’ll bring it out for her.”

  Nicole’s head began to whirl as she thought about what was being asked of her and how she was supposed to accomplish it. “Why does she need to hear about it at all?”

  “Because of what I said—she’ll grow too strong and eventually, we’ll be drawn to her. Once she’s fully into her powers, she’ll actually be able to protect herself and her loved ones.”

  “How long does the prophecy have to stay in hiding?”

  “Years—until she has chosen her path and developed her magic.”

  “We’re going to college in a few months.”

  Alexander nodded. “Yes. That will help her.”

  Nicole rubbed her eyes, feeling exhaustion pound them and her weary shoulders. “How can I hide something magically when I don’t yet control magic? And seal its location? What on earth do you mean by that?”

  “You won’t grasp your own powers until you begin college, and we can’t wait that long. I will take you to someone who will help you pull authority from your future role as guardian. You will then hide and protect the information until your friend is ready.”

  “What about school?”

  Alexander leaned forward in the beanbag and clasped his hands, appraising her. “Go about your schedule as usual. I know you probably don’t want to hear that, not when your friend’s life is at stake. But it is the best thing you can do right now. Try not to think about the hounds. Absolutely do not try to access the knowledge on the chip drive. Don’t research anything that has to do with the words ‘Cerberus’ or ‘Tindalos.’ I’ve told you the bare minimum, and even that is dangerous—something I may be forced to remedy sooner rather than later.”

  “Remedy how? And why is it dangerous to learn?”

  “The hounds might be losing knowledge, but they can tell when someone gains it—particularly when it’s about them. They will always and forever be attracted to knowledge.”

  This was insane. “How am I supposed protect myself?”

  “Watch for smoke inside corners. When you see it forming, run. Hide somewhere that doesn’t have ninety-degree angles.”

  He got up and started pacing again. “I have to find the magician who will help borrow powers, and he doesn’t make that easy, so my journey will be several days long. I have to do a few things before I leave, which must be soon. In the meantime, I’ll be with you as often as I can. I’ll also train you to recognize the magic a hound emits when it is approaching.”

  “What do I do with the chip?”

  “Hide it somewhere no one will find it.”

  Alexander approached the corner of the room, then turned and faced Nicole. “Don’t trust anyone—especially not dogs.”

  Nicole was almost tempted to laugh. Don’t trust dogs? What kind of blanket advice was that? “Can I at least research Xolos? I mean, I need to know what they look like, right?”

  Alexander considered her question. “I personally wouldn’t risk it. And you don’t need to—they all look like me. I’ll shift into my dog form so you can see again—I have to do it anyway in order to leave the room.”

  Nicole backed into the corner of the couch, holding the blanket close to her chest, as she watched the man shift into a dog. The clothing he wore, rather than dropping off his body or shredding or doing something else like what she’d seen in movies, dissolved into the dark gray skin that covered the sleek dog’s body. Nicole gasped, realizing the creature was hairless.

  Alexander’s form shifted and turned and twisted and shrank until he was the same dog Nicole had seen on her balcony and running outside her car.

  Chapter Eleven

  The dog yelped at Nicole as if to say goodbye, then turned and faced the corner of the room.

  She gasped when weird patterns began glowing on the dog’s skin. Smoke came out of those patterns, roiling until it coated the dog. Then its form began wavering and convoluting until nothing remained but smoke.

  That smoke spread into the corner of the room, billowing up along the ceiling and down the f
loor and then rolling back in on itself as it disappeared into the corner. Nicole stared at that spot for several moments, wondering if Alexander was really gone.

  When it became apparent that he wasn’t returning, she scrambled to pull the couch away from the door, then ran to her room where her lights were still on.

  She grabbed her clutch and pulled the shiny piece of metal from it. It didn’t look a thing like a data chip.

  Nicole stared around her room, trying to figure out where to hide the chip. She could put it beneath her mattress or under the carpet by the heat vent where she’d hide things as a child, but those were all places someone would think to look.

  She entered her closet, and her eyes landed on her Tupperware containers of childhood toys. One of them held an old music box that she’d taken apart and put back together a couple of times. That would work.

  Nicole pulled the appropriate container down, opened it, and removed the music box. She flipped the top of the box back as the familiar tune filled the air. She loved this toy. It had been a gift from her grandmother before the woman passed away when she was six. The emotions that accompanied the music were happy and warm, filling her with melancholy.

  Before removing the velvet lining, Nicole glanced around her room, making sure smoke wasn’t building anywhere. When all looked clear, she pulled out the little contraption that made the music, setting it aside. Then she tugged gently on the velvet lining until it came loose.

  Nicole tucked the metal chip inside the corner, replaced the velvet—making sure it was snugly in place—then put the metal part back in and closed the box.

  She looked around her room, staring at the corners. Realizing the longer she stayed in one place, the more danger she was probably in, she jumped to her feet and left her room, searching for a place to hide until Alexander gave her additional information.